The Empathic Facilitator: Leading A Transformative Group Process

May 17, 2018 - May 18, 2018

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Create Forward and the Center for Justice at Columbia University are partnering for the third time to present The Empathic Facilitator Training.

The Empathic Facilitator is a two-day training for anyone who leads groups and wants to develop the skills to lead a transformative change process. The principles and practices learned in this training can be adapted for a range of settings and groups whether you regularly facilitate workshops, team meetings, or offer one-on-one coaching.

Practitioners in the fields of social work, criminal justice reform, and reentry services understand the importance of empathizing with the people they serve. In fact, the restorative justice process is predicated on a foundation of empathy. When in service of communities impacted by mass incarceration, we never stop cultivating the set of skills necessary for an effective embodiment of empathy.

In this training:

o Cultivate a set of daily practices for deepening self-awareness, presence, and the ability to be attuned to the needs of your group.
o Use storytelling as a way to build empathy and connection within groups.
o Work with group tensions/conflicts in a generative way that produces fresh insights and stronger relationships.
o Give and receive constructive and attuned feedback that leads to sustainable change and cultivates empowered leaders.
o Learn to build a culture of shared ownership of outcomes and direction.

Participants will receive a toolkit of the activities learned in the training and a certificate of completion. Breakfast will be provided each day along with snacks throughout the day.

A limited number of scholarships are available for emerging practitioners who are directly impact by mass incarceration/criminalization. Please contact Cameron Rasmussen at the Center for Justice for more information: cwr2116@columbia.edu

About the Facilitator:

Piper Anderson is a facilitator and community builder who has spent the past 17 years leading groups in prisons/jails, schools, and community spaces. After seeing the depth to which trauma played such a destructive role in the lives of so many of her community members, she realized that she had more to learn about the healing process. So in 2004, she set out on a journey to study the healing arts. She now integrates healing practices, mindfulness, and somatic techniques for trauma recovery into all of her work. Today Anderson centers storytelling as a means of empathy and action with people directly impacted by mass incarceration. In 2014, she founded Create Forward, a social impact firm harnessing the power of the arts and design to deliver experiences that advance equity and social justice. In 2015, she was awarded a TED Residency to design a community storytelling project called Mass Story Lab. To date, Mass Story Lab has traveled to ten cities hosting storytelling events that center the voices of people directly impacted by incarceration, making their stories as a vehicle for empathy, healing, and action. Anderson is a professor at NYU where she teaches courses on the intersections of criminal justice, the arts, and education. For more information: www.create-forward.com

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